Ashley Madison Launches Solemn New Ad Campaign (Video)

The online dating/adultery site Ashley Madison has had a rough year or two, first and foremost due to the massive hack that publicized the identities’ of everyone who started a purportedly secret account with the service. But now, like a husband who went astray but promises to never do it again, the site is back, with a hilariously solemn series of commercials that seek to regain consumer trust, and de-emphasize the site’s adulterous origins.

The Ashley Madison commercials feature sad-looking thirty-and-fortysomethings in cold, Soderberghian environs, somehow managing to find meaningful connections with fellow lonely people through the power of limp acoustic pop (and, it goes without saying, the Ashley Madison dating service). The ads will be seen on television, and the question whether the site still caters to married people lookin’ to do some cheatin’ is, like the ideal marriage, an open one.

Here’s AM’s new CEO in a press release about the site’s “new direction”:

“Close to 45 percent of our members are single, over 50 percent are attached and they are interested in a wide range of experiences.”

Alright. You can watch one of the new Ashley Madison commercials below, and check out the company’s aforementioned press release right here.